When we click on the Windows 10 start button and press the shutdown button, the Suspend, Shutdown or Restart options will normally appear. However, if we have a laptop, then the Hibernate option may also appear. Now there are still many users who may not have enabled this option or who may not be aware of the advantages or disadvantages of enabling hibernation in Windows 10.
Typically, this option is not activated by default in the system, therefore, if we want to make use of it we will have to proceed to activate it before anything else. However, it may not be available for all computers, for example, those laptops with InstantGo do not offer the possibility of activating the hibernation option.
What is hibernation
Windows 10 hibernation is a system energy saving mode that uses less energy than the sleep process, and also allows us to return to having everything as we had before bringing our computer to this mode. Yes, it is true that the process is somewhat slower than the suspend process, but it allows us to return to how we were just before hibernating the computer. Therefore, it is an option that we must use when we are going to be for a long period of time without using the equipment and we want to return to having everything as we had it before we stopped using it when we woke it up.
When we hibernate the computer, Windows saves everything we have currently open in a special file on our hard drive (hiberfil.sys) so that the moment we wake it up, it will be able to show us everything as we had it before. Those documents or programs that we had open will keep our work and will not be lost, even in the event that the laptop battery runs out or a power outage occurs. In addition, it is a state in which a lot of energy and battery are saved.
How to activate hibernation in Windows 10
To activate hibernation in the latest version of the Microsoft operating system, here are the steps to follow:
- We open the Windows 10 configuration page.
- We select the System option.
- We click on the Start / shutdown and suspend option.
- And then we go into Additional Power Settings under Related Settings Options.
- This will open the control panel window with the power options.
- We click on the menu option Choose the behavior of the start / stop button.
- Click on the option Change settings currently not available .
- In shutdown settings we activate the box next to the Hibernate option.
- We save the changes.
If for any reason we find that the Hibernate option does not appear within the shutdown settings, then we can make it visible by running a simple command from the command prompt. To do this, we open a CMD window with administrator permissions and run the command powercfg -h on.
From that moment, when clicking on the Windows 10 Start menu button and selecting the Shutdown option, the Hibernate option will appear.
Advantages and disadvantages of activating hibernation
Considering that it is an advanced power saving mode, the first thing to note about Windows 10 hibernation is that it represents a significant power saving compared to other states such as sleep. The battery consumption will also be very low, another fact in its favor.
Now, one of the main advantages is that it offers us the possibility of waking up the computer and having everything as we had left it before sending our laptop to hibernate. In this way, we can leave our work halfway and then continue where we had left it without any problem.
In addition, in case the equipment is turned off due to a lack of battery or a power outage while we use it without a battery, it will not cause our work to be lost or that we can find everything that we had half or open in the equipment again.
To do this, Windows 10 saves all this information in a file that is stored on the hard drive of our computer, so it will always be available to the system when it wakes up from that state.
But all that glitters is not gold and using Windows 10’s hibernation mode also has certain drawbacks. Having saved all the information of the state the computer was in before hibernating in a file, makes both the process of entering the mode, as well as the output, much slower since you have to wait for all this is saved in the hiberfil.sys file.
Specifically, when we wake up in this way, it is usual for our team to become lazy and take considerably longer to wake up and offer us the possibility of continuing to work on the team and as we had left it.
Although today it is no longer an inconvenience or a problem, since modern laptops have large disk drives or SSDs, on older computers and with little capacity it can become a problem if the file hibernates. sys grows considerably . To make the file delete, we will have to deactivate the Hibernate option in Control Panel or open a command prompt window with administrator permissions and execute the command powercfg -h off.
